‘I accidentally watered garden in hosepipe ban and was horrified by neighbour’s reaction’

A woman who accidentally used her hosepipe during a ban was left “shocked” by the “stern” reaction of her neighbour, as 23 million people across the UK face hosepipe bans amid a drought

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A woman who inadvertently used her hosepipe during a ban described feeling “shocked” by her “busybody” neighbour’s “stern” response. England and Wales have just had the fifth heatwave of the year, with drought conditions gripping large parts of both nations.

More than 23 million residents are subject to hosepipe bans and temperatures peaked at 38C on Thursday. Both Cambridge Water and Anglian Water, the two main providers of water to Cambridgeshire, enforced the rules last month.

Parched grassland, shrivelled plants and dwindling rivers paint a stark picture of just how arid the UK has become. While the temptation to reach for the hosepipe may be strong, it’s essential to check local restrictions first – a lesson one London resident learnt the hard way.

Sarah, from Uxbridge, was unaware of the ban in her area when she began watering with her hose, prompting her neighbour to appear over the fence requesting proof of an exemption.

She told The i Paper: “I was using my hose, but I genuinely hadn’t realised it had come into force in our area, as this was the first or second day. I’ve stopped using it since. I know it’s the right thing to do.”

“But I was also quite shocked that she asked me for proof, and then was really stern with me. We’ve not lived here long and I sensed she was a busybody – now I know for sure.”

Following Anglian Water’s hosepipe ban, their head of strategic asset planning Dr Geoff Darch explained the reasoning behind it.

He said: “Every day of sustained hot weather increases the challenge of balancing supply and demand, and we are now at the point where we need to ask customers to help by hanging up the hosepipe, letting lawns go brown, cars go dirty and using water even more wisely to help protect the environment and ensure water remains available for all customers.

“Implementing a Temporary Use Ban for our customers has been a very difficult decision to make and one which we have not taken lightly but protecting supplies to our customers and protecting our region’s precious environment in the face of such unusually hot conditions and high demand means doing everything we can to limit our non-essential water use as much as possible. We are grateful for everyone’s support.”

Under the terms of the ban, there will be a small number of exceptions to protect jobs, livelihoods and those who are most vulnerable. Customers can still water their gardens and grow their own fruit and vegetables if they use a watering can instead of a hose or sprinkler.